adminMelissa Mpofu Showbiz Editor
LEGENDARY American R&B superstars, Toni Braxton and Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, will be spending a week in Zimbabwe later this month as part of their African tour.
The two legends, popularly known as America’s “musical husband and wife”, are billed to perform at Borrowdale Racecourse on August 28.
They will touch down at Harare International Airport on August 24, marking their first visit to Africa. They will then depart for Durban, South Africa on August 29 where they will perform at the Moses Mabhida Stadium before crossing over to Cape Town on September 1. Their last show will be in Johannesburg at the Ticketpro Dome on September 3.
Concert organisers, Canoc Live, said Zimbabwe music lovers deserved well organised world-class shows, hence their decision to bring the two popular artistes.
“We’ve so much love for people in Zimbabwe as they’re our neighbours. They love good music and also deserve quality entertainment, hence our decision to share this concert with them,” Canoc Live spokesperson, Pleasure Letsoalo said.
“We want to boost the economy in Zimbabwe through promoting tourism by having various people from neighbouring countries such as Botswana and Zambia flocking there to attend the show.”
He said Braxton and Babyface were coming to Zimbabwe four days earlier as they wanted to meet locals and show fans their appreciation of their support.
“Toni and Babyface will be spending close to a week there as they want to meet locals in order to inspire and empower them. We’re working on their itinerary as we want to take them to tourist attractions such as Victoria Falls so they’ve an appreciation of Zimbabwe and Africa as a whole.”
Asked if they would not cancel the Harare leg of the African Tour, Letsoalo said: “A lot of people think this show won’t take place in Zimbabwe as they’ve been affected by previous promoters who’ve failed to deliver. Canoc Live has never cancelled any show, when we say we’re doing something, we deliver.”
Last year, local music lovers were dealt a major blow after another American act — John Legend’s show — which was meant to take place in Harare, was cancelled at the last hour.
No convincing explanation was given as to why the event had been cancelled, especially considering other people had purchased tickets.
On supporting acts, Letsoalo said they were still waiting for Braxton and Babyface’s management to advise them on the type of artistes to include.
“We’re waiting for the international management to advise us on whether there’ll be a need to have supporting acts and if so, which genre they would want. Once they give us the go ahead, we’ll start scouting for possible artistes to share the stage with the two performers,” he said.
Tickets to both Zimbabwe and South Africa shows are already on sale online with organisers trying to secure ticket distribution booths and points to cater for the Zimbabwean market.
“We’re still looking for points where we can physically sell tickets from in Zimbabwe for those who can’t buy online. Alternatively, people can purchase tickets online from ticketpro,” Letsoalo said.
The cheapest ticket has been pegged at $50 with the most expensive costing $200.
“The cheapest is $50 (standard) while the most expensive (VVIP) is $200. An ordinary VIP ticket is $150 with a cash bar. Those in VVIP will be seated on reserved seats at a round table.”
With hits such as Every time I close my eyes, Babyface wrote and produced tracks for Braxton including popular hits Fairytale, How could an angel break my heart and Breathe Again. Braxton has earned a total of seven Grammy Awards and sold over 66 million records worldwide in her career.
Letsoalo said they chose to host Braxton and Babyface as they were the best selling artistes in South Africa last year with their album Love, Marriage and Divorce, which debuted at number four on Billboard’s Top 200 and number one on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The album went on to win a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album.
“The market for these two artistes is there and who best to host than them, especially considering that they’ve never been to Africa before,” Letsoalo said.
Online Reporter